tricycleracer:Dude, I could post the Port of Long Beach next to St. Pete Beach too

you say that like posting pictures of arbitrary geographic locations is not indicative of the entire region. Come on, now, all of California is a waterless shiathole while the rest of the country is a pure mountain prairie.

drew46n2:tricycleracer: Dude, I could post the Port of Long Beach next to St. Pete Beach too

you say that like posting pictures of arbitrary geographic locations is not indicative of the entire region. Come on, now, all of California is a waterless shiathole while the rest of the country is a pure mountain prairie.

Without taking everyone else's water, yes, it (along with Arizona) kind of is.

H31N0US:Arkanaut: There's only 1.6 million people in New York County, therefore LA > NY.

LA county 4200 sq milesNY county less than 40 sq miles

I was just making a crack because the first time I visited LA, a tour guide made the "population 10 million" claim without clarifying that he was referring to the county, which is a much bigger place than the city proper. But 4200 sq miles -- holy shiat that's a big area.

raerae1980:Lorelle: Beerguy: vernonFL: I love Los Angeles, but then again I stay in a really nice area- Palos Verdes- and I don't drive long distances.

I don't blame you, you live in paradise....not in the valley.

I LIKE living in the Valley. :P

/is looking at the 405 right now//it isn't crowded///it will be in about an hour

Hey, we're neighbors.

/no ho

Burbank in the house! Because we're Borebunkians and we never leave the house. (Seriously, there are PEOPLE out there. And daylight. And we can never find parking. We mostly stay in and watch Netflix.)

After the winter my friends went though back home, I'm starting to be okay with living in L.A. I'm starting a night program at UCLA next week; looking forward to adding a bit more local-but-not-too-local knowledge to my mental map of the city.

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Jument:CA is absolutely beautiful in many places but the cost of living is absofarkinglutely insane. No thanks!

My brother lived in Arizona and was an amazing radar engineer (SR-71 Blackbird amazing). For years he would get these astounding multi-year contract offers from companies in California. Finally he decided to go and have a look around. I'm sure it was just an accident that the offers he received were fantastic for Arizona living and starvation wages for California living. And of course locking him into those wages for years was entirely coincidental.

Badmoodman:ReverendJynxed: It's the same assholes that insist on calling it THE Ukraine.

Yet it is THE United States. Is that some weird grammar rule run amok?

"The Ukraine" is, I believe, shorthand for "the Ukraine territory" (which was part of the USSR). As Ukraine is now its own country, it would be sort of silly to refer to it as a "territory" - much the same way Americans no longer refer to "the Ohio territory", we simply refer to "Ohio", in recognition of its statehood (ascension to "proper noun" status).

Calling it "the United States" is also shorthand for "the United States of America", because that's how grammar works - every word in the title is either an adjective, an article/preposition, or "America", like saying "the Duke of Earl".

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Knock that shiat off. Or there will be hell to pay when I am King.

We'll consider this when you agree to let us call your city Frisco.

This is how the California civil war will begin. It will end over margaritas.

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Knock that shiat off. Or there will be hell to pay when I am King.

Your bay area newscasters say "The Ukraine" instead of "Ukraine," so piss off.

Arkanaut:H31N0US: Arkanaut: There's only 1.6 million people in New York County, therefore LA > NY.

LA county 4200 sq milesNY county less than 40 sq miles

I was just making a crack because the first time I visited LA, a tour guide made the "population 10 million" claim without clarifying that he was referring to the county, which is a much bigger place than the city proper. But 4200 sq miles -- holy shiat that's a big area.

By my math, if LA was as densely populated as New York, they'd have about 40 bajillion people.

Living in L.A.'s aight. It's nothing like what you see on TV or in the movies, really: it's big-time big-city living with really nice weather all the time (I refer to it as "relentlessly pleasant"). Drivers are much more aggressive than they are in my hometown, Chicago: back home I could do things like remove one hand from the steering wheel every so often. People aren't that different: steer clear of anyone even tangentially or remotely connected with the entertainment industry in any way (it poisons souls at a distance) and you're fine.

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Knock that shiat off. Or there will be hell to pay when I am King.

Your bay area newscasters say "The Ukraine" instead of "Ukraine," so piss off.

Does this person somehow claim ownership? Shouldn't it be The Bay Area newscasters?

Showing a picture of a NorCal reservoir to someone from SoCal isn't going to make much of an impact, you should realize. Besides, all the SoCal reservoirs are full so they probably don't know what you're talking about anyway (somehow, in spite of the drought declaration and efforts in Northern California to conserve water such as proposed 20% minimum reductions for residential units, the aqueduct and receiving reservoirs down south are just as full as if it were a normal year).

Showing a picture of a NorCal reservoir to someone from SoCal isn't going to make much of an impact, you should realize. Besides, all the SoCal reservoirs are full so they probably don't know what you're talking about anyway (somehow, in spite of the drought declaration and efforts in Northern California to conserve water such as proposed 20% minimum reductions for residential units, the aqueduct and receiving reservoirs down south are just as full as if it were a normal year).

Oh I know. But this way I get to say, "I told you so." Nothing like smug self-righteousness to get you through your day.

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Knock that shiat off. Or there will be hell to pay when I am King.

As a native Southern Californian now living in San Francisco for 20 years I can explain the reason for the regional usage:

In SoCal people know and refer to the freeways by their given name: The San Diego Fwy (405), The Santa Ana Fwy (5), The Long Beach Fwy (710), The Garden Grove Fwy (22), The San Bernadino Fwy (605), etc.

In NorCal, the freeways have names but few people know the names, just the route numbers: 101, 280, 880, 85, 680, 580, etc.

So in SoCal the definite article is in reference to the freeway name "Take the San Diego Fwy south to the Long Beach Fwy south." which becomes "Take the 405 south to the 710 south."

In NorCal it's "Take [route] 280 south to [route] 85 south." which becomes "Take 280 south to 85 south."

Depending where I am, I switch modes. It's funny, you can use this to tell where someone is from in CA with no other accent marker.

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Knock that shiat off. Or there will be hell to pay when I am King.

It's short for "the 405 freeway," "the 5 freeway," the 101 freeway," etc.

It's just a freeway thing. When referring to Pacific Coast Highway, we call it PCH. NO ONE calls it "the PCH."

The odd thing about California is that it is the only state where nobody notices the difference between state and Federal highways/freeways. Hence the whole "the" or "" thing with SoCal or NorCal. That is, The 91 would be referred to "State Route 91" or some such anywhere except in California, and The 5 would be referred to "I-5" or "Interstate 5".

The reason, I think, is that California is smart enough to not duplicate state highway numbers with ones that have Federal highways/freeways, while other states aren't as smart (so State Route 91 and I-91 could potentially be different roads).

Arkanaut:H31N0US: Arkanaut: There's only 1.6 million people in New York County, therefore LA > NY.

LA county 4200 sq milesNY county less than 40 sq miles

I was just making a crack because the first time I visited LA, a tour guide made the "population 10 million" claim without clarifying that he was referring to the county, which is a much bigger place than the city proper. But 4200 sq miles -- holy shiat that's a big area.

That's deceptive, though. More than half the area of LA County is mountain area and high dessert, which are sparesely populated, and have only maybe half a million people. The other 9.5 million people live in about 40% of the land area.

Geotpf:The reason, I think, is that California is smart enough to not duplicate state highway numbers with ones that have Federal highways/freeways, while other states aren't as smart (so State Route 91 and I-91 could potentially be different roads).

The other reason is that the "interstate" vs "state" is kind of silly. Like, the 405 is an interstate - except that it starts and ends in LA Metro (it's a bypass for the 5, which is why, but it still doesn't really make sense). Whereas the 101 goes all the way up to the northern border of Oregon but somehow isn't an interstate highway. Or, like, the 210, which is an interstate for part but only a local for part. The 110 and the 710 start a few miles apart in the Pasadena/South Pas area and both head to Long Beach, but they're also both Interstates - or, at least, the 110 is for part of it; the other part (the oldest part) is just a local.

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Knock that shiat off. Or there will be hell to pay when I am King.

It's short for "the 405 freeway," "the 5 freeway," the 101 freeway," etc.

It's just a freeway thing. When referring to Pacific Coast Highway, we call it PCH. NO ONE calls it "the PCH."

The odd thing about California is that it is the only state where nobody notices the difference between state and Federal highways/freeways. Hence the whole "the" or "" thing with SoCal or NorCal. That is, The 91 would be referred to "State Route 91" or some such anywhere except in California, and The 5 would be referred to "I-5" or "Interstate 5".

The reason, I think, is that California is smart enough to not duplicate state highway numbers with ones that have Federal highways/freeways, while other states aren't as smart (so State Route 91 and I-91 could potentially be different roads).

But we do have duplicate routes. However, the all seem to be parts of the Interstate (e.g. I-110 and SR-110; Harbor and Pasadena Freeways, or I-210 and SR-210), so I guess still no confusion (most people probably don't even register that there was a change from the Interstate to a State Route, besides the logo changing, if they even see that).

Confusion still happens with things like "San Diego Freeway", because that refers to the 405 and the 5 (south of the 405/5 split). Well, I guess you'll still get to San Diego in any case, I suppose. Might be confusing if you're told to take the Santa Ana Freeway south to the San Diego Freeway south, since you don't change freeways.

(BTW lohphat, it's the 10 that's the San Bernadino Freeway. The 605 is the San Gabriel River Freeway, technically. But I don't even think older people call it that).

In LA, every damn time they mention a highway they put "the" in front of it. The 405, the 5, etc. Lived in the Bay Area for 20 years and never heard it but go to L.A. and even the damn broadcasters do it.

Knock that shiat off. Or there will be hell to pay when I am King.

Your bay area newscasters say "The Ukraine" instead of "Ukraine," so piss off.

Does this person somehow claim ownership? Shouldn't it be The Bay Area newscasters?

My taxes fund the Interstate Highway System, but I don't take "my the 280" to work

obenchainr:Geotpf: The reason, I think, is that California is smart enough to not duplicate state highway numbers with ones that have Federal highways/freeways, while other states aren't as smart (so State Route 91 and I-91 could potentially be different roads).

The other reason is that the "interstate" vs "state" is kind of silly. Like, the 405 is an interstate - except that it starts and ends in LA Metro (it's a bypass for the 5, which is why, but it still doesn't really make sense). Whereas the 101 goes all the way up to the northern border of Oregon but somehow isn't an interstate highway. Or, like, the 210, which is an interstate for part but only a local for part. The 110 and the 710 start a few miles apart in the Pasadena/South Pas area and both head to Long Beach, but they're also both Interstates - or, at least, the 110 is for part of it; the other part (the oldest part) is just a local.

obenchainr:Geotpf: The reason, I think, is that California is smart enough to not duplicate state highway numbers with ones that have Federal highways/freeways, while other states aren't as smart (so State Route 91 and I-91 could potentially be different roads).

The other reason is that the "interstate" vs "state" is kind of silly. Like, the 405 is an interstate - except that it starts and ends in LA Metro (it's a bypass for the 5, which is why, but it still doesn't really make sense). Whereas the 101 goes all the way up to the northern border of Oregon but somehow isn't an interstate highway. Or, like, the 210, which is an interstate for part but only a local for part. The 110 and the 710 start a few miles apart in the Pasadena/South Pas area and both head to Long Beach, but they're also both Interstates - or, at least, the 110 is for part of it; the other part (the oldest part) is just a local.

Don't get me started on the 110 and 710. Talk about the gaps in the freeway system. They should all be meeting in Pasadena, at the 210. Stupid NIMBYs.

However, IMO, it's perfectly cromulent for all the bypasses and spurs to also be named Interstates (since it's a connected part of the Interstate Highway System). Even that spur of the 5 that heads to the airport and doesn't actually directly connect to the 5 (the 105).

/I remember when they changed the signs from SR-7 to I-710, but not quite old enough to remember SR-11 being changed to I-110